Clarence H. Adamson Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Courtesy Appointments, Biomedical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Robotics Institute
Carmel Majidi’s career mission is to discover materials, hardware architectures, and fabrication methods that allow robots and machines to behave like soft biological organisms, and be safe for contact with humans. The aim is to replace the bulky and rigid hardware in existing robots with soft, lightweight, and deformable technologies that match the functionality of natural biological tissue. Currently, his group is focused on filled-elastomer composites and soft microfluidic systems that exhibit unique combinations of mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties and can function as “artificial” skin, nervous tissue, and muscle for soft robotics and wearables. He’s particularly interested in approaches that are practical from a rapid prototyping and robotics implementation perspective. This includes efforts to enable robust mechanical and electrical interfacing between soft-matter systems and conventional microelectronics and hardware.
2007 Ph.D., EECS, University of California, Berkeley
2001 BS, CEE, Cornell University
Mechanical Engineering
Carmel Majidi, Aaron Johnson, and Aja Mia Carter explain the intersection of paleontology, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
CMU Engineering
Carmel Majidi will lead a research thrust in a new multi-institutional collaboration to launch an NSF ERC dedicated to revolutionizing the ability of robots to amplify human labor.
CMU Engineering
Researchers address battery-life concerns with a new material system that can power a pulse ox with bodyheat alone.
Ars Technica
MechE’s Carmel Majidi explains how robots can help with understanding extinct ancient creatures.
Three new professorships were announced in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
PopSci
MechE’s Philip LeDuc and Carmel Majidi have developed a new soft robot inspired by a prehistoric sea creature, which was featured in Popular Science. Pleurocystitids, a precursor to the present-day invertebrates, had tail-like structures that allowed them to move underwater easily.
CMU Engineering
Researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering used fossil evidence to engineer a soft robotic replica of pleurocystitids, a marine organism that existed nearly 450 million years ago and is believed to be one of the first echinoderms capable of movement using a muscular stem.
BuiltIn
MechE’s Carmel Majidi talks to BuiltIn about shape-shifting robots. “This technology introduces new capabilities to achieve robotic functions at the small scale in hard-to-reach places,” he says.
Communications of the ACM
MechE’s Carmel Majidi explains the impact soft robotics, such as exoskeletons, artificial skins, and flexible electronics, will have on society.
Pittsburgh Business Times
MechE’s Carmel Majidi has been awarded the 2023 Inno Fire Award for Trailblazing Innovators from the Pittsburgh Business Times.
CMU Engineering
New research from Burak Ozdoganlar, Carmel Majidi, and Kadri Burga Ozutemiz seeks to develop a scalable manufacturing method that combines the best of quality and quantity on a miniature scale, with the potential to reimagine how wearable medical devices are made.
The Data-driven Discovery of Optimized Multifunctional Material Systems has announced two new projects made possible with support from the Air Force Research Laboratory. Both will focus on how machine learning can contribute to the development of functional soft materials. CEE’s Kaushik Dayal and MechE’s Carmel Majidi will collaborate on one of the projects, while ChemE’s Gabe Gomes will work on the other.
